A/N: Arguably a rather dark chapter, but certainly not the worst. Sorry it's taken me a week. I've started my new job early . anyway, thank you for all your reviews 3 I love you all. Thank you to DarkSnow3 for beta reading (good to have you back, G) 3
— — —
"So, we're sorted?" Bellatrix asked after they'd gone through their plan to get into Hogwarts, not looking up from her book, slumped in her armchair.
"Almost, just waiting for Snape to give us the all clear, you know, after the stunt I pulled at the Ministry," Hermione said sheepishly, glancing at the locket which was sitting in a gap on the bookshelf.
Bellatrix caught Hermione glance at it out of the corner of her eye and, still facing her novel, asked, "What do you plan to do with it?"
"Destroy it," the brunette shrugged, then she laughed. "I don't suppose you know how?"
Bellatrix didn't say a word, just continuing to flick through her book.
Hermione narrowed her eyes, shuffling on her knees from her position on the carpet over to Bellatrix's chair.
"You know how to destroy them, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're a terrible liar."
Bella's eyes lifted to meet Hermione's for a moment before she tilted her chin up and said, "I am a tremendous liar."
The Gryffindor rolled her eyes. "Not to me."
Attempting to hold the gaze as long as possible, the Slytherin found herself unable to uphold her pretence any longer and she sighed, closing her book and leaning back in her chair, almost pouting. "Perhaps I have a theory."
"Tell me?"
Bella's eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head. "I can't."
"Why not?" Hermione asked.
The dark witch's voice came out small and quiet, "You'll kill Him."
Here it was, the divide between them, Bellatrix's last remaining shreds of loyalty to Voldemort and Hermione's desire to have him dead. The silence that fell was deafening.
"Bella," the young witch crawled up into the chair with her– as she did a lot these days– and waited for arms to wrap around her. They never did. "Bella, he's going to kill you and you said it yourself that if he sees what we've been doing then he's going to kill me, too."
Bellatrix's eyes flickered up to Hermione's possessively and arms found their way around the brunette.
Hermione felt a pang of guilt– she knew it was wrong to manipulate Bellatrix in such a way– but then she remembered how far the Slytherin had come and how much she'd changed, and she knew that if she could just get Bella to see that there were other ways in the world then perhaps there would be a way to make whatever they had together last beyond their arrangement.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore," the dark witch forced out.
"Then tell me about the wand," Hermione said immediately, "did you find it? Was it with Dumbledore?"
"As I suspected," the dark witch nodded. "But I don't want to talk about that, either…" she smirked and was about to lean in to kiss the girl in her arms before an owl flew in through the open window, startling them both.
Hermione was off of Bellatrix's lap in an instant, taking the letter from between the bird's beak and tearing it open. From behind her, the Death Eater rolled her eyes.
"Another love letter from Severus?"
Hermione shot a glare at the woman behind her back and read the letter. It consisted only of a date and a time, signed with the letter S at the bottom.
"Two days, we have two days," she announced.
"That's a relief, I'm exhausted," Bellatrix sunk further into her chair and pulled her attention back to her book. Then, with a pensive look, she glanced up at her lover and watched her browse for her own book to read.
Hermione eventually sighed at the shelf when she couldn't find something she hadn't already read, making Bellatrix laugh lightly.
"What?" the brunette turned to the dark witch with raised eyebrows.
"Nothing, sweetheart," Bellatrix said mockingly.
Hermione scoffed, turning back to the bookshelf and plucking for a book on wandless magic that she had already read twice. She took her seat by the fire and was about to open the book before the Slytherin interrupted her.
"Have you given much more thought to learning Parseltongue?"
"No," the younger woman shook her head. "I still don't think I'll be able to do it."
"Allow me to offer an incentive," Bella sat up straighter, prouder, "if you can learn how to say 'yes' and 'no' by eight o'clock then I'll give you a present."
"What is it?" the Gryffindor asked.
"A surprise," the Death Eater shrugged, standing from her chair and straightening her robes which she was yet to change out of.
Hermione frowned. "How do I know it's worth it?"
A smirk spread across the older woman's lips. "You're going to have to trust me."
— — —
Hermione, never having been one to turn down a challenge, accepted Bellatrix's proposal and they spent the following hours until 8pm with Hermione attempting to grasp a basic word in a language that was far from just foreign.
Bellatrix reminded her how well she was doing when she finally understood 'yes' but, when the clock struck eight, she wasn't even close to understanding the word 'no'.
"Come now," Bellatrix pulled an exhausted Hermione into a hug, "follow me."
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked when she was released and the Slytherin started to lead the way towards the stairs.
"To get you your present, or part of it."
Hermione followed curiously. "But you said I'd only get a present if I learnt both words."
Bellatrix glanced back at her lover with a smile as they approached her bedroom door. "I was going to give it to you anyway."
Hermione continued after Bellatrix until the older woman stopped at the chest at the end of her bed. Slowly, she unlocked it with a flick of her fingers and lifted the lid.
Inside, there was a variety of different boxes and palm-sized locked boxes. Inside one, which Bellatrix opened, was a key.
"My vault key."
"Why your vault key? You're giving this to me?"
"Firstly, I'm going to be keeping ahold of it, I'm not giving you the key. However, you now know where it is kept so, should you need anything, I'll authorise the goblin who shows me to my vault every time I visit to allow you to access it. In my vault, you'll find a lot of things that may prove themselves useful to you in the future and I want you to be able to access them if you need to," Bellatrix looked sadly into Hermione's eyes as she spoke, then brightened up a bit as she continued, "but that's not the only reason I'm taking you to my vault tomorrow."
"You're taking me tomorrow?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. Honestly, she'd never given much thought as to what it might be like inside the vault of such a rich pureblooded wizard. "Why?"
"Because in there is a particularly oddly enchanted piece of jewellery which I would like you to have."
Hermione blinked. "Jewellery? What is it?"
"That's enough for today, don't you think?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. "How about a bath?"
"But—"
"No buts," Bellatrix shook her head, standing and slipping her fingers around the back of the Gryffindor's neck. "Come, take a bath with me."
Hermione looked into Bellatrix's eyes and what she saw there surprised her. The look was almost pleading, desperate. It was also, however, a look she couldn't say no to. Without thinking about it, she slowly pushed the robes off of the dark witch's shoulders and pulled on the lace at Bellatrix's back to undo her corset.
It dropped to the floor after a considerable amount of fiddling, leaving the Death Eater's top half exposed.
"So, do you get elves to prepare your baths?"
Bellatrix shook her head at Hermione. "Not in situations like this."
The dark witch snapped her fingers and, behind her through the set of double doors that lead to her bathroom, the lights came on and the water started running in the massive built-in tub. Hermione saw out of the corner of her eye that the lavender-coloured bottle of bubble bath tipped a decent amount of the syrupy liquid into the water on its own.
Hermione found the way Bellatrix's eyes had never left her own while she did her magic very sexy and she giggled slightly before her hands roamed down to her lover's hips, banishing the underwear there down to around her ankles.
She then bit her lip before dropping to her knees slowly, placing kisses down Bella's tummy as she did, so that she could remove the black leather boots that the Slytherin was wearing.
Bellatrix maintained eye contact with the Gryffindor while she removed her shoes and socks, leaving her entirely naked.
"Are you happy?"
Hermione didn't break eye contact once while she rose to her feet again, giving one nod. "Yes."
Bellatrix turned towards the bath, walking slowly up to it, knowing that Hermione's eyes were following her every move. She flicked her fingers towards the tap, the water supply ceasing immediately. Then, elegantly, she climbed into the bubbles.
Hermione found herself quickly removing her shirt and jeans, shoes and socks, lastly dropping her underwear as she left a trail behind her of clothing.
Bellatrix's eyes raked over her appreciatively as she stood at the side of the bath. "Close the doors?"
"You just want me to turn around, don't you?"
The slightest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Bella's mouth.
Hermione felt butterflies in her stomach, a feeling she didn't think she'd ever stop feeling when Bellatrix looked at her like that, and she prayed to the Gods that she always would.
She felt Bellatrix's eyes on her as she turned and closed the sliding doors, a lot like patio doors, Hermione realised. The perfectly white painted wooden edges and frosted glass looked so modern it was out of place in the safehouse. She imagined that Bellatrix had it built in recently.
Walking back, she slipped into the bath and lay back, positioned between Bellatrix's legs with the dark witch's arms wrapped around her, holding her up under her arms and linking together at her belly. She rested her head back onto Bella's shoulder, smiling contently as bubbles and perfectly warm water splashed up against her.
"How exactly do you get into Gringotts?" Hermione asked.
"You'll find it all out tomorrow," Bella kissed Hermione's temple, "but for now, allow me to enjoy your company."
— — —
Hermione should have expected that Bellatrix was going to use Polyjuice potion to get inside of Gringotts. What she wasn't expecting, however, was the fact that the witch used the same Polyjuice potion every time and that she had stolen the identity of a muggle woman.
She had explained that the particular goblin who helped her knew of the secret identity, all she needed to do was go in when he was working at the front desk.
Hermione had stared with her mouth agape as Bella had handed her another vial of Polyjuice.
"You'll need to drink this one," she'd explained, "so that your identity is concealed, too."
Hermione hadn't done much except follow Bellatrix's lead until they were finally approaching the front desk in the wizarding bank, both with different identities. That was when she recognised the goblin that sat there as the one who had dealt with her the day she'd come to withdraw all her money.
Bellatrix approached the goblin as a medium-height dark brunette woman, dressed in a smart plain black robe with flat leather shoes. Hermione followed in a similar outfit, posing as a tall mousy blonde.
Bellatrix lay her wand and vault key on the desk and the goblin looked up at them, then looking up at Bellatrix. He raised an eyebrow. "It's been a while."
"Just take me to my vault," Bellatrix sighed tiresomely.
The goblin gave a nod. He hopped down off of his chair, handing Bellatrix back her wand and keeping the key to himself.
When they were out of earshot of other goblins, he asked, "Who is your companion, Madame Lestrange? You don't usually invite people along."
Hermione looked to Bella who nodded at her, silent permission for her to say who she was. "Hermione Granger, you showed me to my vault not long ago."
He chuckled as he stopped at a cart, opening the door so they could get inside. "I remember well. I told you if you ever needed assistance accessing your vault I could provide it for you. Would you like to take me up on that offer today?"
Hermione wondered where they were going in the cart, but instead of asking she just nodded her head. "Yes, actually. I think a visit to my vault would be beneficial."
"Very well."
On their way to what Hermione assumed was the level Bellatrix's vault was kept, Bella reminded Hermione that she didn't need to withdraw any of her own money, with what she had, but Hermione didn't back down. She said that she wanted to have some of her own money, that it would make her feel less guilty about using all of the Slytherin's, to which the Death Eater only grumbled and turned her attention to the winding journey down underground.
Bellatrix smiled over at Hermione when the goblin wasn't looking, taking her hand and squeezing it, letting it go before the goblin could see. In fact, their entire journey was full of small gestures as such.
When they were standing outside Bellatrix's vault, having been through some terrifying experiences in Hermione's books, Hermione looked over at Bellatrix.
They were both themselves now, having gone under an enchanted waterfall, and Hermione realised why Bellatrix had packed more Polyjuice for them both.
"You have to pass a dragon to get to your vault, that's a bit extreme. And the way they keep it, the poor dragon…" the Gryffindor commented as the goblin began unlocking the door.
"It's security," Bella shrugged. "Goblin, while we're here, I would like to authorise Hermione to have access to my vault at any given time until I revoke this access. She may present her wand and the vault key as I do and you are to take her to the vault as you do for me. Understand?"
The goblin turned, looking quite unimpressed, to look at the dark witch. "In doing so, I would be breaching a number of laws—"
"Aren't you already?" the Slytherin cocked an eyebrow and the goblin opened his mouth to speak, only then deciding that what he was going to say wasn't important and he snapped it shut.
"Yes, Madam," he settled for.
After using the key, he pressed his hand to the carved surface and a ripple went through it before something clicked and the door slowly swung open.
Hermione stared in awe at the silver and gold that was laid out before her. The vault was massive, bigger than most rooms she's been in, and she felt her jaw go slack as she followed Bellatrix inside after the older woman had ordered the goblin to stay outside.
The door clicked shut behind them and Hermione wondered how they planned on getting out, but the worry was quickly replaced with curiosity when she felt herself being drawn to a prettily engraved silver plate and she reached out to touch it.
"Don't!" Bella snapped, then softer after Hermione had jumped and snatched her hand back. "Don't touch anything, most of it's enchanted to multiply."
"Oh," Hermione gave a nod, "of course it is."
"Here," Bellatrix walked over to a shelf and pulled down a dark green jewellery box. She turned to Hermione. "This is your present."
Hermione glanced down at the box as Bellatrix opened it. It was a very small key, a lot like the vault key only it was golden and there was a gold chain that looped itself around the stopper of the glass bottle it was kept in. Hermione had to admit that it was quite pretty.
"It's gorgeous," Hermione reached into the box to pick it up but Bellatrix pulled the box out of reach.
"I used to wear this necklace all the time. It doesn't seem like much but it's still… special to me. I want you to have it, but you must look after it if you take it."
Hermione looked at Bellatrix's uneasy expression and nodded reassuringly. "Bella, I love it. I'll never take it off."
Hesitantly, Bellatrix offered the necklace to Hermione again and watched the Gryffindor put it on. She couldn't help the small smile. "It suits you."
Hermione leaned in and placed a kiss on Bellatrix's lips. "Thank you."
Bellatrix put the box back where she'd found it, leaving it seemingly undisturbed on the shelf while Hermione was allowed to wander. Of course, she was careful not to touch anything. There were golden cups and silver chalices, piles of gold and coin, and Hermione stared in awe at some of the jewellery that was displayed, absentmindedly fiddling with the small finger-sized bottle around her neck.
However, Bellatrix soon called her back towards the door, knocking on it so that the Goblin would know to let them out.
— — —
Once leaving Gringotts, the new dose of Polyjuice still active, the two decided to browse through Diagon Alley before leaving. Bellatrix had jokingly suggested visiting Borgin and Burke's, to which Hermione had rolled her eyes and shoved her playfully into the wall next to them.
They mainly laughed between themselves at how oblivious everyone was, before deciding that they were both tired and wanted to return home. As they turned the corner they planned to disapparate from, however, someone grabbed both of their arms unexpectedly and they were pulled into side-long apparition without consent.
Landing left them both disorientated and Hermione quickly found herself held in a headlock with a wand pressed to her temple. She looked over at Bellatrix beside her, held in the same position, as Voldemort stepped into view.
"Bellatrix," he motioned towards her with his wand hand, which was equally inviting and threatening, "how lovely of you to join us."
Hermione realised that they were in a graveyard and she wondered whether this was the same graveyard Harry had been transferred to when he'd grabbed the Triwizard Cup, though she doubted it.
The afternoon sun was blazing down on top of their heads and was warm, despite the harsh cold September had brought on. Hermione wondered what the Death Eaters were doing out in broad daylight like this, although it didn't seem like this was the type of graveyard to be visited often.
"My Lord," Bellatrix greeted him stiffly.
From behind him, Willis Arnold stepped out with a proud smirk on his face. "Bella, dear, I did warn you when you were younger that it's not all about brute strength and willpower, but intelligence, too."
"Bloody good thing I have both then, isn't it?" the dark witch said back airily, flinching when the wand to her temple pressed into her skin harder.
"Willis came to me with some interesting information," the Dark Lord addressed his followers, despite the fact that he was obviously talking to Bellatrix alone. "He told me that he believed that Bellatrix was protecting a muggle-born girl."
"Protecting?" Bellatrix laughed, sounding so crazed that the men holding her leaned away involuntarily. "My Lord, I can assure you, I am not doing anything of the sort."
It's all for show, Hermione reminded herself.
"You cannot lie to me, Bellatrix," something about the way Voldemort kept saying the Slytherin woman's name put Hermione on edge and she shifted uneasily in the grasp of the two Death Eaters which were holding her.
A bitter expression contorted the dark witch's face.
"I can only assume," he continued, now holding Bellatrix's gaze intensely, "that if you do not care then you will not mind Travers disposing of her as he sees fit."
Bellatrix's jaw set as Travers ran a finger down Hermione's cheek, smiling cruelly at her.
"Well?" Voldemort prompted.
Bellatrix stared into his eyes and Hermione could tell that, should her hands have been free, then the dark witch would have drawn her wand.
Silence befell the graveyard and Hermione felt her heart sink when Bellatrix didn't make one single objection.
Voldemort sighed, almost as if it pained him to give his following order. "Well, Travers, I suppose you get your wish. You may dispose of her."
"Don't you fucking touch her!" Bellatrix spat, making Voldemort and his followers freeze.
Travers looked to his lord for the all-clear, but the pale man only held up his hand to him, a smile stretching across his face.
"Was it so hard to tell the truth? There was a time when you were honest with me, was there not?" Voldemort's voice turned slightly condescending towards the end. "Let's go back to that, Bella."
The use of her lover's nickname from the Dark Lord's mouth made Hermione feel sick and she watched as Bella's eyes flickered with an emotion Hermione had learnt to associate with want in the Slytherin.
Did she want her old life back?
"Come," Voldemort offered out his hand to Bellatrix, waving his free one at the Death Eaters holding her so they would release her, "let me offer you a chance to right your wrongs, a chance to redeem yourself for killing Harry Potter."
"Get out of my head," Bellatrix spat, hands balled into fists at her sides. "Or at least, if you don't, have the decency to acknowledge that I wasn't the one to kill Potter."
Despite Bella's snarky reply, Voldemort's hand remained for a prolonged moment before he quickly snatched it back, hissing something in Parseltongue. He then said, keeping to the language that he knew no one would understand, something else. This time he was calmer, more composed.
Hermione recognised Bellatrix's one-word answer as 'yes'.
Voldemort turned, his cloak billowing out behind him as he faced away from Bellatrix.
Hermione turned to the older woman questioningly and saw the look of regret on her face. She knew that Voldemort was a master Legilimens and wondered what he had seen in Bellatrix's head to elicit such a reaction.
He turned to one of the Death Eaters and hissed something quietly at him in English, but it was so hushed that Hermione couldn't catch what it was. The Death Eater quickly disapparated.
When Voldemort turned again, he spoke to Travers. "Get rid of her."
"No!" Bellatrix began to lunge for Travers but the other two Death Eaters who were originally holding her grabbed her and held her down. "Let her go!"
Hermione thrashed against Travers as he attempted to drag her off into one of the crypts. "Bella!"
"Don't you dare touch her!" Bellatrix trashed harder, screaming at Travers, and Hermione was dragged backwards forcibly, watching the equally crazed and distraught look on her face as she was dragged into the stone interior of the crypt.
The heavy door slowly swung shut behind them and Hermione felt the crushing fear of being left alone with a notoriously cruel Death Eater with no Trace to drag Severus to her rescue.
When they were down the stairs, in a small enclosed area which contained four stone coffins, she barely had time to register her dimly-lit surroundings before the back of Travers' hand connected with her face.
"Bella…" Hermione croaked out, a feeble attempt at calling the dark witch's name. "Please, stop."
"Unlike Bellatrix up there," Travers smiled evilly down at Hermione as she managed to haul herself up into a standing position again, her head throbbing and her vision doubled, "I don't disobey the Dark Lord's orders."
"So, what?" Hermione replied, holding onto the stone of one of the coffins for support. "You're just his dog? You do everything your master says?"
Travers snarled at Hermione, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking it back so hard she felt strands of it being pulled out, and she cried.
"How dare you?!"
She flinched as he spat the words in her ear.
"You are nothing, mudblood," he tugged on her hair harshly so she dropped to her knees with an agonising thud.
She groaned painfully as he held her there.
"Don't you see? This is your rightful place," he said in as sweet a tone as his raspy voice could muster, pulling on her hair harder.
Hermione cried, fearing what would happen next. "Please… please, don't do this."
"Keep your mouth shut," the smile that spread across Travers' face was cruel, arguably crueller than Bellatrix's, "or I'll find a way of occupying it."
Bile rose in Hermione's throat and she snapped her jaw shut immediately. Unfortunately, she was in no position to call his bluff. She could not get to her wand without him knocking her down again and there was no one to save her. Her head was also still throbbing and her double vision had changed to triple vision. She was better off hoping and praying that he would make her disposal quick and painless.
The hand on her hair did not ease, but a wand tip pressed itself to her chin, the pressure increasing in an attempt to pry her jaw open.
Hermione cried, keeping her mouth locked shut as long as she could until the pressure of the wand digging into her chin was too much and she let it go slack.
"Please…" she cried.
Travers didn't have much chance to say or do anything else. The explosion that echoed from above drew his attention away and it was quickly followed by the sound of the crypt door being blown off with a spell.
Blood stains splattered the robes of the person who stood at the top of the stairs, crimson covering their hands and smeared across their face. Hermione followed Travers' gaze to the woman there and couldn't help but sigh in relief when she met Bellatrix's eyes.